


Morning Rush

by chelseababylove



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-06
Updated: 2018-12-06
Packaged: 2019-09-12 14:10:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16874325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chelseababylove/pseuds/chelseababylove
Summary: Lily normally liked the morning rush. The constant stream of cranky, sleepy customers kept her on her toes and it was usually too busy to think about her tense relationship with Petunia, her ex-best friend Severus, or the calculus test she was certain she failed last week. There was nothing but Lily and coffee (and about 20 impatient coffee-drinkers but she tended to ignore them on most days).Unfortunately, today was not a normal day.





	Morning Rush

**Author's Note:**

> On the off chance tumblr does wind up imploding, I finally decided to add all my tumblr drabbles here. Originally posted 2/2015

Lily normally liked the morning rush. The constant stream of cranky, sleepy customers kept her on her toes and it was usually too busy to think about her tense relationship with Petunia, her ex-best friend Severus, or the calculus test she was certain she failed last week. There was nothing but Lily and coffee (and about 20 impatient coffee-drinkers but she tended to ignore them on most days).

Unfortunately, today was not a normal day.

The coffee shop was a few blocks away from uni, which was perfect because it was still within walking distance but there was already a Starbucks on campus so students rarely ever visited. Lily didn’t have anything against her peers but sometimes it was nice to get away from the hustle and bustle of school, where she tried so hard to make a name of herself, and just be another stranger amongst the crowd. The fact that she gets paid for it is merely an added bonus.

She was giving a nervous girl her order of 5 different coffees and a bag of assorted muffins (Lily assumed she was an intern) when the bell dinged, signaling the arrival of yet another customer. Lily ignored it—people were constantly going in and out of the shop—and moved on to making her next order, brushing a few pieces of red hair that escaped her ponytail out of her face.

“Don’t look now but Lover Boy just came in,” her fellow employee, Benjy Fenwick, muttered to her as he pumped the machine. Benjy was a student at the art school down the road and was Lily’s morning rush buddy. When they first met, Lily was intimidated by all his piercings and tattoos but once they got to know each other, Lily realized he was a huge softie.

A huge softie, who, incidentally, deserved a good beating.

“Don’t call him that,” Lily whined. She refrained from peaking over her shoulder to seek out the guy Benjy was referring to. She had no idea what his name was but he started stopping by the coffee shop a few weeks ago around 10:30 every morning, ordered a large coffee (2 sugars, no milk) and a biscuit, and would sit at the corner table reading for an hour. This wouldn’t be at all interesting—they had tons of regulars—if it weren’t for the fact that Lily’s eyes couldn’t seem to focus on anything other than the boy whenever he was around. It wasn’t entirely her fault though; there was something about his demeanor that just demanded attention. She just happened to also be irrevocably attracted to his stupid messy black hair and hazel eyes. Plus, she always had a thing for guys with glasses.

“What do you think he’s doing here now,” Benjy asked.

Lily didn’t respond. She didn’t like thinking about the boy because the first time they met, he insulted her and her coffee. Their coffee was indefinitely better than any chain store crap, thank you very much. She was so furious, she forgot that she was going to write her number on a napkin for him. When she asked the next day why he showed up again when the coffee was so terrible, he smirked and said he liked the ambience and winked. Needless to say, Lily was very conflicted with her feelings toward the guy.

“Have a nice day,” Lily said cheerfully as she handed off another coffee. Unable to stop herself, she looked at the end of the line and sure enough he was there, staring at her with that damned smirk. She cocked an eyebrow at him which just made him smile and that was much worse so she quickly turned away and moved on to the next customer.

Not even the fast-paced environment was enough to keep her thoughts from straying to that stupid boy and it wasn’t helping that Benjy was constantly whispering about him whenever she had her back to the crowd. Apparently, the girl who came in after him also noticed how hot he was and tried flirting but he only had eyes for Lily. Well.

When it was finally his turn to order, he grinned and said, “Is it always like this at this time?”

“Yes. You’re lucky you usually miss the worst of it.”

He sighed and messed up his hair. She noticed he did that a lot, as if his hair wasn’t messy enough as it was. Much like everything else about him, it was both incredibly sexy and horribly annoying.

“When does it stop?”

“It usually starts to die down a little after 9.”

“Brill. See you then!” He knocked his knuckles against the counter and then turned to leave.

“Wait! Aren’t you going to order something?”

“Maybe later,” he laughed before swaggering out the door.

Lily had about two seconds to process what happened before she was bombarded by the next customer, ordering an espresso.

The next half hour was one of the worst Lily ever had. She was so distracted, she kept messing up orders and her stomach was in knots as she anxiously checked the clock every ten seconds (that might be a slight exaggeration).

“Careful, Lil,” Benjy teased. “The cup’s gonna overflow.”

Lily blushed and stopped the machine from pouring any more coffee. She had to endure a constant stream of teasing from Benjy about ‘Lover Boy’ which didn’t help her nerves any.

It was about 9:30 when he entered again. By this point, there was only one person waiting for a latte and there was a couple pleasantly sipping on their cups as they laughed at a table near the door.

“Hello again,” he said as he stepped up to the counter.

“Hi. Your usual then? Or are you going to storm out before ordering again?”

He laughed and rumpled his hair. “Nah, I’m not leaving just yet.”

Lily nodded and set off to getting his coffee. She was reaching over to the sugar when his voice rang out. “I’m James, by the way.” Lily froze. “I just figured it was only fair you knew my name since I know yours.”

She swung around. “How do you know my name?”

He pointed at her chest. “Your nametag.”

“Oh. Right.” She went back to his coffee and handed it to him quickly. He leaned against the counter, watching her as she got his biscuit.

“Lily’s a pretty name,” he said casually. “Suits you.”

Lily turned to him and slowly handed him the biscuit. “Are you hitting on me?” she blurted out. Her cheeks went up in flames immediately.

The question surprised him as much as it surprised her. He recovered quickly and said, “Only if it’s working.”

“You think you can come in here every day and drink our coffee that ‘tastes like your dog just vomited in your cup,’ not say a word to me other than your order and then you have the nerve to flirt with me?” Lily did her best to stare him down but really her heart was pounding frantically in her chest.

“Considering I suffer through this donkey shit you try to pass as coffee every morning just to see you, yeah. I reckoned it was about time I manned up and made a move.”

“Our coffee is not donkey shit.”

“Have you ever tasted it yourself?”

“Of course I have. It’s delicious.”

“You’re mental,” he laughed.

“You’re an ass.”

“You’re beautiful.”

“You’re infuriating.” Lily reached over the counter, grabbed his sweatshirt and pulled him closer, crushing her lips against his. As far as first kisses go, this one was fairly awkward. There was the entire counter between them and she was pretty sure everyone was watching them swap spit but they were finally, finally kissing so she couldn’t exactly bring herself to care.

“I get off at noon,” she said after they pulled away. His glasses were adorably crooked and he had this silly grin on his face.

“You know where to find me,” James said, nodding to his corner table. He walked over to the table, only stopping very purposefully at the garbage bin to throw out his untouched coffee.


End file.
